JMB terrorist had Aadhaar as well as election card

Tarikul Islam, the Bangladeshi terrorist arrested in connection with <g data-gr-id="45">Burdhwan</g> blast, is believed to have acquired Aadhaar card and Voter Card to project himself as an Indian citizenship and avoid being arrested by the NIA, official sources said on Sunday.

Even after he was picked up by the NIA last week from Jharkhand, he had been maintaining that he was not involved in the blast, they said.

However, after his finger prints matched with one of the crime scene preserved by the NIA, he started spilling some of the beans about his association with banned Jamaat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) terror group, the sources said. He claimed during interrogation that he had been jailed in Bangaldesh prison for five years where he met Sheikh Rahamatullah alias Sajid, the mastermind of JMB terror group, and his radicalisation process begun, the sources said. This information has been shared with Bangladesh authorities to ascertain the veracity of his claim, they added.

He crossed over to India in 2012 for indoctrination of youth in West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar for recruiting them in the terror group with an aim of <g data-gr-id="38">destalising</g> Sheikh Hasina’s government in Bangladesh and enforce Sharia-based Islamic rule “through violent terrorist acts”.

For the purpose of establishing his credentials as an Indian, he claimed to have bribed local election and Aaadhaar card officials to procure the same, the sources said. He also married an Indian girl who was minor at that time, they said, adding that the wedding was solemnised at Simulia madrasa in Burdwan, West Bengal where the terrorist training camps were organised by JMB.

The wife along with an <g data-gr-id="33">eight-month old</g> baby and his brother-in-law are missing from the day he was arrested from Jharkhand. Islam, who was arrested from Ramgarh district of Jharkhand by a team of NIA and Anti-Terror Squad of Jharkhand police, carried a cash reward of Rs five lakh as he is alleged to be an important member of ‘Shoora’, the decision-making body of JMB. He is in the NIA custody till October nine.

NIA has already <g data-gr-id="35">chargesheeted</g> him for his alleged role in the <g data-gr-id="36">Burdhwan</g> blast which occurred in a house on October 2 last year, leaving two persons dead.

During investigation of the case, NIA claimed that Islam was a part of larger conspiracy of JMB to organise terror attacks in Bangladesh and in India and had been frequently entering India illegally, at different times since the year 2008-2009. NIA took over the case from West Bengal police a few days after the explosion on October 2 when international links started emerging. Investigators have found that improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were being fabricated in the house where the explosion took place and later smuggled to Bangladesh.

NIA has so far found that members of JMB <g data-gr-id="30">has</g> established a network in different places like Murshidabad, Nadia, Malda, Birbhum, Burdwan in West Bengal and <g data-gr-id="46">Barpetta</g> in Assam, Sahibganj and Pakur in Jharkhand.